I am sorry I didn’t have a blog last week – it was super busy but really good in the offline life. My mom came to visit because my older son was graduating from high school. It was a lovely time, but didn’t leave any time or energy for blogging. So I’m going to publish an extra Mumbling this week after this one.

So I decided to continue with the whole learning songs thing here.

Things are about at the same place on the song I mentioned in the last post, which is okay, all things considered. Like I made clear earlier, there really hasn’t been time to make much progress, but every time I try to play it, I remember most of what I need to know. We have rehearsal tomorrow night, so it’ll be the maiden voyage of this attempted one-off cover. We shall see what happens. Hoping for the best…

We’re also picking up a bunch of older songs we played to add a little diversity to the setlist, which will probably be more necessary when we have more time to be busy. It’s fun going back and playing along and seeing what I retained from the last time I played songs. Thankfully, it’s usually a lot. Sometimes, I’ll go back to refresh something and realize I learned it all wrong. Then I get a little mad at my past self for a moment, and proceed to fix the issues.

Since I wanted this one to kind of expand on the last one, I’ll take you through my process of learning songs.

First I determine my level of familiarity with the song, and lock down what precise version we will be learning from – there are often different versions of popular songs (single edits, etc.) and I want to make sure we’re all learning the same arrangement. Saves time later. I try to listen to the song like I’ve never heard it before (sometimes I’ve honestly never heard it – or at least don’t remember it). Then I focus on the parts I need to learn and try to isolate as I listen, to determine what sort of EQ adjustments I can make to make the part pop out of the arrangement so I can learn it easier. If I can find the stems of the song, even better, because then I can just listen to the instrument isolated. But that’s not always available.

Second, I listen to the song. A LOT. Over and over. Over and over. ESPECIALLY if I have to sing something in it.

Third, I nail down the parts. Sometimes if I’m strapped for time I’ll refer to a transcription, but I mostly like to learn it myself because I trust my ear to pick up the nuances better than most mainstream transcriptions I’ve seen. I try different voicings and fingerings to find the best way for the parts to live under my fingers and still honor the tune and cover properly.

Fourth, I play the learned parts along with the song. A LOT. Over and over. Over and over. AND when I have to sing, I do that while I’m playing the part on whichever instrument so I can work out any “pat head, rub belly” conflicts.

Fifth, I rehearse the song with the band and make any necessary adjustments to my arrangement so I’m truly filling my role in the ensemble.

Sixth, I play the song in front of an audience and determine how that affects singing and playing it. Then I make THOSE necessary adjustments.

After a few gigs with the song, it’s unlikely that I’ll ever forget it. The majority of songs learned by using this longer process stick in my brain and I can play them wherever, whenever. It’s pretty nice.

If you are a musician who reads this, I’d love for you to share your learning process in the comments. Maybe you do something cool that would help even more!

Well, that’s it. If you can get a shot, get one. If you can help someone get a shot, help them.

See you in a few days with another new one.

Thank you for reading, and peace be the journey.
TMS